Daisy: the autobiography of a catSwan, Miranda Eliot
General
Daisy: the autobiography of a cat
Swan, Miranda Eliot
Cats -- Fiction
When the children went down to bathe, Watch would attend them as
body-guard. They always carried their doll and gave her to Watch to take
care of. They would place her on a high rock, while Watch would sit down
beside her, with his paws on her dress, to keep her from falling off.
They would say, "Watch, take good care of her," and then they were sure
he would never leave her. Chloe did not often go with them, for cats do
not like the water as dogs do; but she knew where they were and was very
impatient for them to return.
One day when their mother said, "Chloe, where are the children?" she ran
down toward the water and back again several times.
Their mother laughed, saying, "Go and bring them home." And sure enough,
the children were amused to see Chloe on the rock by Watch's side. She
took hold of Amminadab by her dress, and tried to pull her away from
Watch. But here she was mistaken in thinking he would give her up. He
held his ground. He had been told to guard that doll, and guard her he
would. Chloe tugged at her dress, tearing it with her teeth, but he held
on. Then she fell upon him, and cuffed and clawed him, while he tried to
dodge her all he could; but at one hard blow, in defending himself, he
loosened his hold a bit on Amminadab, and Chloe, with one good pull,
gained the victory and ran home, dragging the poor doll over the ground,
bumping her poor wooden head without mercy. This was too much for Watch.
He ran in pursuit, but his short legs were no match for her long ones,
and she reached home, dropping Amminadab on the threshold long before he
arrived.
Then ensued a fight to carry her back, and the master, who always took
the part of Watch, had to separate them. He took the bone of contention
into the house, and that settled it.
They were sincere friends, however, and later on, when poor Watch was
unfortunate, the good heart under Chloe's rough exterior was shown.
Watch lost his hearing and then his eyesight, and it was then Chloe came
to his aid. She helped him and seemed always to have the care of him on
her mind. She hovered around him when carriages drove by, and he, not
seeing or hearing them, would sit in their track. She would drag him
away by the ear or push him away and share his danger. And he soon
followed her slightest touch.
She would often put his food under his nose, for he at last lost even
his sense of smell. The sense of feeling he never lost, and would put
out his paw, and his poor old heart would beat while he would give forth
a cracked and feeble bark when his master touched him--loyal and
faithful unto death!
His master could not bear the thought of parting with him, though he
knew it must be, for he was in danger of being killed all the time, and,
having lost all his senses, he at last refused food, and they were
obliged to "put him to rest." Chloe was inconsolable. She wandered about
everywhere, searching for him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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